Athens erupts in violence after acid attack on immigrant

Police in Greece clashed with gangs of youths throwing petrol bombs and stones on Thursday night, a month on from the country's worst civil unrest in decades.

An anti-nationalist protester stands by a barricade in Athens . Greek riot police have fired tear gas to break up clashes in Athens between anarchists and extreme right-wingers who were holding an anti-immigration rallyPhoto: AFP

By Nick Squires

3:08PM GMT 23 Jan 2009

Police officers in central Athens fired tear gas to dispel the rioters, who peeled off from a protest which had been organised in solidarity with a Bulgarian migrant worker who was attacked with acid last month.

Kostadinka Kuneva, 44, a Bulgarian cleaning lady and a union official, is in hospital in a serious condition after the Dec 22 attack by two unidentified men who ambushed her outside her home and threw acid in her face.

The march to the Labour Ministry, which involved about 3,000 demonstrators, had started out peacefully.